Window On Eurasia: Elections In Russia Fewer But Not Freer Or Fairer, Moscow Experts Say
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posted by eagle on July, 2010 as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Paul Goble
Staunton, July 15 – Even though the number of electoral races has declined and even though Moscow claims progress in moving toward democracy, "elections [there] have not become purer and more transparent,” Russian election monitors say, and as a result, "trust in [voting] is catastrophically falling.”
That was the conclusion of a recent roundtable organized by Civic Control with the support of the Social Chamber that attracted a wide range of political activists and experts on election law, according to an article by Natalya Yefremova in the current issue of "Rodnaya gazeta” (www.rodgaz.ru/index.php?action=Articles&dirid=22&tek=26867&issue=420).
One of the organizers of the meeting, Aleksandr Brod, who is co-chairman of the Civic Control NGO, described the work his organization has done in monitoring elections in the Russian Federation over the last three years. Unfortunately, he said, he could not speak of any "particular successes” in moving Russian toward democracy over that period.
The session ...
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Window On Eurasia: Expansion In FSB’s Powers Threatens Medvedev’s Reputation, Moscow Analysts Say
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Paul Goble
Staunton, July 17 – The Duma today passed on third reading a measure that dramatically expands the powers of the FSB, a measure that Russian rights activists are urging President Dmitry Medvedev not to sign and that some analysts are already suggesting represents a threat to his reputation as a jurist committed to a law-based state.
Under the terms of the measure, which now goes to the Federation Council and then the president for approval, the FSB in cases where there is no evidence of a crime can declare any Russian of being engaged in "impermissible actions which create the conditions for the committing of a crime,” a declaration that opens the way to arbitrary actions against people.
Moreover, the new measure allows the FSB to declare anyone who does not obey the legal demand or order of an FSB officer in violation of the country’s administrative code and hold him ...
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Window On Eurasia: Russians Still Wait In Line Longer than Any Other European Nation Does
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Paul Goble
Staunton, July 10 – Russians spend an average of 27 minutes in every line they join, nearly twice as long as Italians do and nearly ten times longer than do British or Swedish citizens in lines in their countries, an indication that the infamous Soviet-era contempt for customers has not entirely disappeared.
Yesterday, "Novyye izvestiya” reported that an 18-country survey conducted using the techniques of the Mystery Shopping network had found that "Russian lines up to now are the longer and slowest in Europe,” a pattern little changed from the notorious situation that often obtained in Soviet times (www.newizv.ru/news/2010-07-09/129587/).
To do this survey, "independent ‘customers’ went to stores, banks, post offices and drugs stores in 18 countries of Europe,” the paper reported. The survey found that "on average,” Russians wait 27 minutes "until they are served. Italy was in second place with waits averaging 14 minutes, and Swedes and ...
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Window On Eurasia: Russia’s ‘Highest Levels’ Blocking Needed Efforts To Limit Alcohol Consumption, Expert Says
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Paul Goble
Staunton, July 9 – Russian officials "at the highest level” are blocking efforts to use the tax system to restrict excessive consumption of alcohol by Russians on the basis of misguided notions that such efforts will threaten their ratings and the country’s stability or lead people to turn to surrogate sources, according to a leading Moscow expert.
In addition to the moral side of the question, Darya Khalturina says, "where is the scientific evidence that the population will react worse to the growth of excise taxes on alcohol than to increases in the costs of communal services?” Indeed, she points out, "the experience of Eastern Europe and Ukraine has not shown a decline in the rating of governments” that do this.
Khalturina’s comments come in an interview she gave this week to Politcom.ru in which she described the terrifying reality that there are now 2.3 million registered alcoholics in ...
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Window On Eurasia: Russia’s Radical Right Views Putin -- But Not Medvedev -- As ‘One Of Their Own,’ SOVA Analyst Says
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Paul Goble
Staunton, July 9 – Many members of Russia’s radical and often violent extreme nationalist right believe that Vladimir Putin, unlike his predecessor Boris Yeltsin or successor Dmitry Medvedev, is "fulfilling [their] minimum program” thus is "one of their own,” according to a leading Moscow specialist on extremist groups.
In an interview published in "Svobodnaya pressa” today, Galina Kozhevnikova, the deputy director of the SOVA Analytic Center, says that the views of the Russian right in this regard reflect both their own evolution and changes in the approach of the Russian powers that be to politics in general (svpressa.ru/society/article/27538/).
In the first post-Soviet decade, she says, "the right-wing radicals directed their efforts toward public politics which existed at that time. Few of them,” she continues, were "then prepared to propagandize the use of force, even more racist force and still more to carry it ...
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